Year: 1996
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: A spin network is a generalization of a knot or link: a graph embedded in space, with edges labelled by representations of a Lie group, and vertices labelled by intertwining operators. Such objects play an important role in 3-dimensional topological quantum field theory, functional integration on the space A/G of connections modulo gauge transformations, and the loop representation of quantum gravity. Here, after an introduction to the basic ideas of nonperturbative canonical quantum gravity, we review a rigorous approach to functional integration on A/G in which L^2(A/G) is spanned by states labelled by spin networks. Then we explain the `new variables' for general relativity in 4-dimensional spacetime and describe how canonical quantization of gravity in this formalism leads to interesting applications of these spin network states.
Author: John C. Baez
Institution: University of Illinois Chicago
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2160162530